Disappointment, decisions and...dirtyness :-)

Crystal here.

What a whirlwind. Friday: we arrived at the vet's office for Jaida's pre-op consultation, only to discover that a booking error had scheduled us in to see the WRONG VET!!! As much as we like Dr. Currie (she actually saw Jaida during her first two days and was great), she knew nothing of Jaida's amputation, the prosthesis option, or anything. She was able to show us an old orthotic support made for another client's dog, but didn't know much about it. It was really disappointing, and extremely hard to go home without answers to our questions and "the decision" still unresolved.

Our strong desire to get this monkey off our backs (plus a couple of cold beers) kept us talking for most of that evening, and we've made a decision:

Jaida will have a partial amputation, and we will have a prosthesis made for her after she heals. There. It's done.

We figure this way we will have provided Jaida with every opportunity, we will have explored and pursued all options, and the worst possible outcome would be another surgery and/or some money down the toilet if Jaida refuses to wear the device. If, however, it all works out, Jaida will have a new crutch that will slow or prevent wear on the joints of her good legs. The decision is made, so now we just have to deal with the pre-surgical nerves, of which there are plenty - eek.

So, with this out of the way, we threw ourselves into enjoying a beautiful, sunny, warm weekend with Jaida and Graice. Kim actually treated the girls to a "day out" before our vet appointment. They got a big, long car ride (Gracie's favourite, and Jaida even likes them now too), went to visit Kim's co-workers, then stopped at a pet store where Gracie spotted a bald guinea-pig she really wanted to *ahem* meet (maybe just have a little taste?). Then off to ANOTHER pet store where miss Jaida promptly selected a pig's ear from the shelf and headed for the door. This act of thievery was cute enough to score her some extra cookies from the cashier. On the way home from the vet, Gracie made friends with a construction worker who stopped us to allow some vehicles to pass. The woman leaned over to speak through the open car window, and was surprised by a very enthusiastic and very wet kiss from Gracie! The look on her face was priceless, but she was a good sport about Gracie's forwardness.

Saturday was glorious, so we started it off with a long walk in the woods....

...and, of course, MUD (what would a fun weekend be without mud?)... (there are hazards associated with closeup photography of boo-boo leg mudpuppies:) ...and we followed up the muddy fun with a nice dip in the creek... Hopefully we'll be able to enjoy a few more fun-filled days before the surgery this Thursday. Here is a portait of Jaida with all four legs, possibly one of the last we'll take:

It may sound strange, but we're so used to her little leg the way it is, and her with it...we're going to miss her little boo-boo foot.

What does Gracie think?

Jaida here.

I think the fabulous miss Gracie is bored with all the talk of boo-boo legs and SUR-GER-EES going on in our house.

Unlike moms, SHE'S not worried about any of that stuff at all. As you can see...

she's pretty relaxed about the whole thing.

Ode to Gracie.

Crystal here.

Kim asked me to pen a special "ode to Gracie". She's right...it's definitely well-deserved.

Gracie, Grace, Gracie-goose, Gooser, Pooper, Pooper-doo...what would we do without you???

Gracie has been an amazing, amazing, amazing dog throughout Jaida's whole ordeal and introduction to our family. She has accepted this bratty brat-child boo-boo leg mudpuppy into her pack, and has put up with all of Jaida's puppy foolishness...the chasing, the stealing of bones and toys, the constant nipping at her mouth for attention. Gracie hardly gets a moment's peace when Jaida is around. Gracie has endured a whole lot of "sorry, you can't come" car rides (one of her favourite things) as Jaida gets trucked off to yet another appointment with the vet. She has had to share the bed, the play times, the snuggles, the sunbeam sleepy spots, and her mummies.
Gracie never holds a grudge.

Jaida just LOVES Gracie. Loves, loves, loves her. Want to touch her, be close to her, look at her, follow her...any of these sets Jaida into a full-body-all-out-tail-wag of pure joy. Gracie, we're sure, has pushed Jaida to really stretch her physical capabilities and build her endurance...Jaida is highly motivated to go everywhere Gracie goes and do everything Gracie does.
Gracie takes this all in stride.

These days, Jaida is starting to show some signs of maturity and settling. There is a little less of the puppy foolishness, and Gracie is starting to appreciate her more and a friend and playmate. This morning, after some morning mummie snuggles (and getting bonked repeatedly on the head with Jaida's boo-boo foot throughout), Gracie leaned over and gave Jaida kisses right on the lips. Jaida thought she died and went to heaven.

Gracie is sweet, smart, beautiful, funny, happy, friendly, silly, patient, forgiving and kind. We love her to bits. She makes our hearts full and happy. Thanks Goose!

Paper towels and tears.

Crystal here.

Things are feeling pretty normal these days in the Jaida/Gracie/triple-cat-threat household. Jaida continues to show us that she's just another goof-ball puppy, with normal puppy ups and downs. Both her moms think that she's getting stronger and gaining endurance every day.

Jaida loves to spend her days outside poking around the yard, following her sister Gracie and her mums as they do their chores (for us, stacking wood; for Gracie, making sure the chickadees don't steal any food from the birdfeeder). She is definitely her happiest when she is filthy. We cannot keep her out of any recently dug pile of dirt, nor out of the swampy, mud-filled depressions in the far end of the yard. The mud-holes are particularly fun because the grass is oh-so-soft and easy to rip out by the sludgy mouthful. But more than anything, she loves to play "shadow" with Gracie.

Gracie is an adventurous gal, and likes to go ambling in the hay field behind our house. Of course, all of her amblings are now accompanied by a certain dangly-legged mudpuppy. Kim and I were busy gardening when we noticed that the girls were preoccupied with something in the field. They were taking turns rolling and snacking on something that was, without a doubt, dead and disgusting and beyond foul. So of course they were quite happy. Such happiness is not permissible in our house, so we called them back home and gave them a "sniff test" to determine whether or not they were going to be allowed back in the house. They passed (barely), and we thought that was the end of it.

Oh, boy, were we wrong. We paid dearly for our inattentiveness, with a lovely episode of DOUBLE DIARRHEA!!! Nothing like having two dogs who desperately need to go outside every hour on the hour, all night long, and all day, for two days. Whatever those fools got into, we'll never know, but I sure hope it was worth it. A diet of cooked rice, boiled chicken and cottage cheese now has them back on track, but Kim and I will be changing our investment portfolio to include copious shares in Bounty Paper Towels. Let's just say we didn't always wake up on time. *Sigh*

Part of the reason we missed a few "episodes" is because we are becoming increasingly sleep deprived. Jaida has an internal clock that you could set your watch by. And her internal clock says that at 5:20 a.m. she should be awake and barking/crying/howling. The TEARS, oh, the humanity. It's quite a scene. So, on the weekend, when her poor mums just want to sleep in ("pleeaaaase?")...well, we can forget about it. We tried an experiment on Saturday. We were going to break this habit by letting her bark her fool head off until she was exhausted, thereby realizing that barking/crying/howling are NOT productive means of being allowed out of bed.

For those of you dealing with a similar puppy problem, here is how it works:
10:00pm: put puppy to bed after a potty break. Tell puppy that her goose is cooked and snicker to yourself.
11:00pm-4:00am: let out diarrhea dogs every hour. (optional)
5:20am: the barking/crying/howling starts. Grin, knowingly: puppy will wear herself out in no time, and the battle will be won.
6:20am: close bedroom door to dampen the volume of barking/crying/howling.
7:20am: remove pillow from over your head so you can find the bottle of asprin on the bedside table, take 2 extra strength, then replace pillow.
8:00am: restate your resolve and reposition pile of pillows...the puppy cannot win this fight. Lie awake staring at the ceiling and dream about coffee while the puppy barks/cries/howls her fool head off.
8:20am: throw off the pillows, fling open the bedroom door, stomp downstairs and release the rotten brat smelly mudpuppy mutter mutter from her sleep area, make cups of strong coffee, and sulk over them while puppy romps and plays happily on the bed.
I'm pretty sure that Marty would have something to say about this. "Bad owners, bad!" comes to mind.

Dirt, Dirt, Dirt.

Jaida here.

I have, in my cleverness, discovered something as fun to chew as STICKS. Possibly funner. And definitely messier.

Moms spent all weekend making big piles of it in our yard. I'm pretty sure they were doing this just for me, on account of my cuteness. This new stuff is nice and cool to lie in and tastes delicious, especially when garnished with bugs and grass, and it goes right up my nose when I stick my face in it, kind of like snow.

DIRT.

Yep, DIRT.

For some reason, Gracie doesn't like DIRT as much as I do. I tried to show her how fun it is, but she just shook her paws when she stepped in it. I suspect that she is concerned that her fabulously gorgeous fur might get messed up. Which it probably would, because my BAY-BEE SOCKS and its VELCRO is all black now.

Still, I'm pretty sure that life doesn't get much better than this.

Get over it, she's fine (And: an exciting weekend)!

Crystal here.

Kim and I took the girls to a dog park this Saturday. This was a very big deal for both dogs. For Jaida, this was her first "yay-I've-got-the-pneumonia-licked-enough-to-get-vaccines" major outing to socialize with other dogs. Of course, she got loads of attention, and everyone stared at her, because she's so frikin' cute and because she was accompanied by the fabulously gorgeous miss Gracie.

And because she hops around like a bunny and has a dangly little scrunchy leg.

There was lots of "aw, poor thing" and "oh, it was so good of you to take her on", which I guess is not necessarily a bad thing, but I'll be honest - it gets a little tired after a while. So, for all you owners of run-of-the-mill 4-legged dogs who happen to come across a dog with three legs or a bum leg or two legs or paralyzed, cart-weilding warrior legs at a dog park: the dog's people KNOW that their dog looks different and don't need to be reminded all the time. And, the dogs are fine. They are happy. They are enjoying their day at the park. If you watch the dogs veeeeerrrry closely, you might notice that they act, well, like fine happy dogs enjoying their day at the park. Hmmm ... sounds remarkably like all the non-handicapped dogs, doesn't it?

Ok, rant completed.

Next. Big deal number 2: GRACIE HUNG OUT AT A DOG PARK!!! This may not seem like a huge big exciting thing, but it sure was for Kim and I. We were super-dooper proud of our girl, yes we were. Why? Because if we had tried this last year, there would likely have been a dog fight. Probably several. The fabulously gorgeous miss Gracie, best friend to cats and all human beings everywhere, was not always the nicest with other dogs. In fact, she could be a downright jerk.

Enter Marty Walhin, dog trainer extraordinaire, and mummy Kim, expert handler. Gracie started going to "bad dog school" early this year to correct this *ahem* issue. After weeks of excellent teaching and hard work, Gracie passed her Level One Obedience class with flying colours. This weekend was proof of the value of those classes. Gracie was relaxed, happy, quite content to sniff every other object and pee on the ones in between, and met lots of dogs, with no problems. In fact, she practically threw herself at a handsome little pug (such a flirt!) It was the coolest thing to see, and Gracie provided Jaida with an excellent example of polite behaviour with other dogs. Yay, Gracie!!!

Props to Uncle Marty (he doesn't know that Gracie calls him that, hee-hee!). His website is here:
Marty Walhin
If you are looking for a dog trainer in the Ottawa area, call this guy. Seriously.

Happiness is a stick to chew to bits...

Jaida here.

My mom Crystal was away for a whole week (she has a j-o-b that makes her leave sometimes). Mummy Kim took great care of me. I learned something called "manners"... it's a type of torture where mummy makes me SIT and WAIT while she puts my food bowl down. I have to WAIT until OK, which means the torture is over and I can EAT! I like food a lot, have I ever mentioned that?

The snow all disappeared this week too. This was sad, but underneath the snow another favourite thing of mine was hiding: STICKS. Lots and lots and lots of STICKS all over the place. It is my job to find them and chew them into little bits, especially STICKS that Gracie finds. She finds them for me to chew, I'm sure that is her job, but for some reason she gets grumpy when I take them. She's funny.

My Hero

Jaida here.This is my big sister Gracie. She is my hero...isn't she beautiful? I want to be just like her when I grow up. I think right now she thinks I'm just a pesty little sister, but I can't help wanting to be around her all the time. Gracie is the smartest dog ever and is showing me how to be good, except my moms don't think that Gracie should have showed me barking. Barking makes them say "no" a lot. I think it's fun and I'm glad Gracie showed me how to bark whenever my moms come home and whenever there's perhaps something that might possibly, maybe be moving outside.